The evolution of tonally conditioned allomorphy in Triqui: evidence from spontaneous speech corpora

Christian DiCanio

doi:10.1515/lingvan-2021-0093

Article

The evolution of tonally conditioned allomorphy in Triqui: evidence from spontaneous speech corpora

Christian DiCanio

Published/Copyright: July 8, 2022

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information Explore this Subject

From the journal Linguistics Vanguard Volume 8 Issue s5

Abstract

One of the defining characteristics of tonal systems in phonological theory is the notion of tonal stability (Goldsmith, John. 1990. Autosegmental and metrical phonology. Oxford: Blackwell; Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Tones remain stable even if their tone-bearing unit changes or is deleted. In the context of historical sound change, tones may either persist as floating tones (from an autosegmental-metrical perspective) or fuse with adjacent syllables and give rise to more complex tonal inventories. However, the process of segmental loss which ultimately conditions historical tonal change is gradual in nature. Tone-bearing units may lenite or they may be optionally realized, leading listeners to rely on coarticulatory cues or phonetic information on adjacent syllables. In the current paper, I examine how variation in the realization of clitic pronouns is conditioned by adjacent tonal cues in Itunyoso Triqui (Otomanguean) within a corpus of spontaneous speech recordings. This research examines and provides evidence for the hypothesis that tonally conditioned allomorphy arises specifically when two conditions are met: (a) there is a morphological context where prosodic units are likely to lenite (highly redundant contexts); and (b) adjacent tonal cues are most informative at this morphophonological boundary. The findings shed light not only on how phonologically conditioned allomorphy arises but also on how variable deletion is sensitive to patterns of multiple exponence during language use.

Keywords: morphophonology; Otomanguean; speech corpora; tone; variation

Corresponding author: Christian DiCanio, Department of Linguistics, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA, E-mail: cdicanio@buffalo.edu

Funding source: National Science Foundation

Award Identifier / Grant number: 1603323

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the Triqui community and my local project consultants, Basileo Martínez Cruz and Wilibaldo Martínez Cruz, for their close transcription of Triqui texts. This work also benefited from commentary from audiences at the 5th Workshop on Sound Change at UC Davis, at the workshop “Current Trends in the Interface between Phonetics and Phonology” at International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan, and at Cornell University’s colloquium series. I would also like to acknowledge the helpful commentary from two anonymous reviewers.

Research funding: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1603323, “Understanding Prosody and Tone Interactions through Documentation of Two Endangered Languages (Itunyoso Trique [trq] and Yoloxóchitl Mixtec [xty])” at the University at Buffalo. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

References

Barnes, Jonathan. 2006. Strength and weakness at the interface: Positional neutralization in phonetics and phonology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110197617Search in Google Scholar

Bates, Douglas, Martin Mächler, Bolker Ben & Steve Walker. 2015. Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software 67(1). 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01.Search in Google Scholar

Beddor, Patrice Speeter. 2009. A coarticulatory path to sound change. Language 85(4). 785–821. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.0.0165.Search in Google Scholar

Blevins, Juliette & Andrew Wedel. 2009. Inhibited sound change: An evolutionary approach to lexical competition. Diachronica 26(2). 143–183. https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.26.2.01ble.Search in Google Scholar

Bouavichith, Dominique & Lisa Davidson. 2013. Segmental and prosodic effects on intervocalic voiced stop reduction in connected speech. Phonetica 70. 182–206. https://doi.org/10.1159/000355635.Search in Google Scholar

Bybee, Joan. 2001. Phonology and language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511612886Search in Google Scholar

Bybee, Joan. 2002. Word frequency and context of use in the lexical diffusion of phonetically conditioned sound change. Language Variation and Change 14. 261–290. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954394502143018.Search in Google Scholar

Castillo García, Rey. 2007. Descripción fonológica, segmental, y tonal del Mixteco de Yoloxóchitl, Guerrero. Mexico City Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS) MA thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Coetzee, Andries W., Patrice Speeter Beddor, Kerby Shedden, Will Styler & Daan Wissing. 2018. Plosive voicing in Afrikaans: Differential cue weighting and tonogenesis. Journal of Phonetics 66. 185–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2017.09.009.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. 2008. The phonetics and phonology of San Martín Itunyoso Trique. Berkeley: University of California Berkeley dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. 2010. Illustrations of the IPA: San Martín Itunyoso Trique. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 40(2). 227–238.10.1017/S0025100310000034Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. 2012a. Coarticulation between tone and glottal consonants in Itunyoso Trique. Journal of Phonetics 40(1). 162–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2011.10.006.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. 2012b. Cross-linguistic perception of Itunyoso Trique tone. Journal of Phonetics 40. 672–688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2012.05.003.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. 2012c. The phonetics of Fortis and Lenis consonants in Itunyoso Trique. International Journal of American Linguistics 78(2). 239–272. https://doi.org/10.1086/664481.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. 2016. Abstract and concrete tonal classes in Itunyoso Trique person morphology. In Enrique Palancar & Jean-Léo Léonard (eds.), Tone and inflection: New facts and new perspectives, 225–266. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110452754-010Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. 2019. Itunyoso Triqui Collection of Christian DiCanio. The Archive of the Indigenous languages of Latin America (www.ailla.utexas.org). Available at: https://ailla.utexas.org/islandora/object/ailla%3A243683.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian. to appear. Aspecto verbal en triqui de Itunyoso. In Michael Swanton, Marcela San Giacomo Trinidad & Fidel Hernández Mendoza (eds.), Estudios fonológicos de idiomas mixtecanas. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian, Jonathan D. Amith & Rey Castillo García. 2014. The phonetics of moraic alignment in Yoloxóchitl Mixtec. In Carlos Gussenhoven, Yiya Chen & Dan Dediu (eds.), Proceedings of the 4th tonal aspects of language symposium, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, 203–210. ISCA Archive. Available at: http://www.isca-speech.org/archive/tal_2014.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian & Richard Hatcher. 2018. On the non-universality of intonation: Evidence from Triqui. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 144. 1941. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.5068494.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian, Basileo Martínez Cruz, Benigno Cruz Martínez & Wilibaldo Martínez Cruz. 2020a. Diccionario bilingüe – triqui de itunyoso y castellano. Available at: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/∼cdicanio/Diccionario_Triqui_01-08-20.xhtml.Search in Google Scholar

DiCanio, Christian, Basileo Martínez Cruz, Benigno Cruz Martínez & Wilibaldo Martínez Cruz. 2020b. Glottal toggling in Itunyoso Triqui. Phonological Data & Analysis 2(4). 1–28. https://doi.org/10.3765/pda.v2art4.3.Search in Google Scholar

Elliott, A. Ray, Jerold A. Edmondson & Fausto Sandoval Cruz. 2016. Illustrations of the IPA: Chicahuaxtla Triqui. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 46(3). 351–365. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025100315000389.Search in Google Scholar

Goldsmith, John. 1990. Autosegmental and metrical phonology. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar

Good, Jeff. 2012. How to become a “Kwa” noun. Morphology 22(2). 293–335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11525-011-9197-2.Search in Google Scholar

Good, Jeff. 2017. Niger-Congo languages. In Raymond Hickey (ed.), The Cambridge handbook of areal linguistics, 471–499. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1093/obo/9780199772810-0226Search in Google Scholar

Gurevich, Naomi. 2004. Lenition and contrast: The functional consequences of certain phonetically conditioned sound changes. New York: Garland.Search in Google Scholar

Gurevich, Naomi. 2011. Lenition. In Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth V. Hume & Keren Rice (eds.), Blackwell companion in phonology, vol. 3, 1559–1575. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.10.1002/9781444335262.wbctp0066Search in Google Scholar

Guy, Gregory R. 1991. Explanation in variable phonology: An exponential model of morphological constraints. Language Variation and Change 3. 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954394500000429.Search in Google Scholar

Harris, Alice. 2017. Multiple exponence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190464356.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Hernández Mendoza, Fidel. 2017. Tono y fonología segmental en el triqui de chicahuaxtla. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Hollenbach, Barbara E. 1984. The phonology and morphology of tone and laryngeals in Copala Trique. Tucson: University of Arizona dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Hollenbach, Barbara E. 2004. Gramática popular del triqui de Copala. Mexico City. Mexico: Summer Institute of Linguistics.Search in Google Scholar

Holt, Lori L. & Andrew J. Lotto. 2006. Cue weighting in auditory categorization: Implications for first and second language acquisition. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 119(5). 3059–3071. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2188377.Search in Google Scholar

Hyman, Larry M. 2004. How to become a “Kwa” verb. The Journal of West African Languages 30(2). 69–88.Search in Google Scholar

Kirby, James P. 2018. Onset pitch perturbations and the cross-linguistic implementation of voicing: Evidence from tonal and non-tonal languages. Journal of Phonetics 71. 326–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2018.09.009.Search in Google Scholar

Lavoie, Lisa M. 2001. Consonant strength: Phonological patterns and phonetic manifestations. New York: Garland.10.4324/9780203826423Search in Google Scholar

Lewis, M. Paul & Gary F. Simons. 2010. Assessing endangerment: Expanding Fishman’s GIDS. Revue Roumaine de Linguistique, Bucureşti 2. 103–120.Search in Google Scholar

Longacre, Robert E. 1952. Five phonemic pitch levels in Trique. Acta Linguistica 7. 62–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/03740463.1952.10415402.Search in Google Scholar

Lovegren, Jesse. 2012. Suppletive (?) tonal alternations in Munken nouns. In LSA Annual Meeting extended abstracts (online), vol. 3, 1–5. Linguistic Society of America.10.3765/exabs.v0i0.605Search in Google Scholar

Lovegren, Jesse. 2013. Mungbam grammar. Buffalo: University at Buffalo dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

McKendry, Inga. 2013. Tonal association, prominence, and prosodic structure in south-eastern Nochixtlán Mixtec. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Morpurgo Davies, Anna. 2012. Phonetic laws, language diffusion, and drift: The loss of sibilants in the Greek dialects of the first millennium BC. In Philomen Probert & Andreas Willi (eds.), Laws and rules in Indo-European, 102–121. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199609925.003.0007Search in Google Scholar

Ohala, John J. 1989. Sound change is drawn from a pool of synchronic variation. In L. E. Breivik & Ernst Håkon Jahr (eds.), Language change: Contributions to the study of its causes. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110853063.173Search in Google Scholar

Palancar, Enrique L., Jonathan D. Amith & Rey Castillo García. 2016. Verbal inflection in Yoloxóchitl Mixtec. In Enrique L. Palancar & Jean-Léo Léonard (eds.), Tone and inflection: New facts and new perspectives, 295–336. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110452754-012Search in Google Scholar

Parrell, Benjamin & Shrikanth Narayanan. 2018. Explaining coronal reduction: Prosodic structure and articulatory posture. Phonetica 75. 151–181. https://doi.org/10.1159/000481099.Search in Google Scholar

Paster, Mary. 2006. Phonological conditions on affixation. Berkeley: University of California Berkeley dissertation.Search in Google Scholar

Paster, Mary. 2009. Explaining phonological conditions on affixation: Evidence from suppletive allomorphy and affix ordering. Word Structure 2(1). 18–47. https://doi.org/10.3366/e1750124509000282.Search in Google Scholar

R Development Core Team. 2020. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing Vienna Version 3.6.3, Available at: http://www.R-project.org/.Search in Google Scholar

Raffelsiefen, Renate. 2000. Constraints on schwa apocope in Middle High German. In Aditi Lahiri (ed.), Analogy, levelling, markedness: Principles of change in phonology and morphology, 125–170. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110808933.125Search in Google Scholar

Thomas, Erik R. 2007. Phonological and phonetic characteristics of African American Vernacular English. Language and Linguistics Compass 1(5). 450–475. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818x.2007.00029.x.Search in Google Scholar

Timberlake, Alan. 1978. Uniform and alternating environments in phonological change. Folia Slavica 2. 312–328.Search in Google Scholar

Wedel, Andrew. 2012. Lexical contrast maintenance and the organization of sublexical contrast systems. Language and Cognition 4(4). 319–355. https://doi.org/10.1515/langcog-2012-0018.Search in Google Scholar

Wedel, Andrew, Abby Kaplan & Scott Jackson. 2013. High functional load inhibits phonological contrast loss: A corpus study. Cognition 128(2). 179–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2013.03.002.Search in Google Scholar

Wittenburg, P, H. Brugman, A. Russel, A. Klassman & H. Sloetjes. 2006. ELAN: A professional framework for multimodality research. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Language Archive. Available at: http://tla.mpi.nl/tools/tla-tools/elan/.Search in Google Scholar

Wolfram, Walt & Erik R. Thomas. 2002. The development of African American English. Oxford: Blackwell.10.1002/9780470690178Search in Google Scholar

Yip, Moira. 2002. Tone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139164559Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2021-06-22

Accepted: 2021-07-05

Published Online: 2022-07-08

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/lingvan-2021-0093

Keywords for this article

morphophonology; Otomanguean; speech corpora; tone; variation